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The development of the WC is inextricably tied to that of the IFC (see 9.12.2.1.2) and was the result, in large part, of opposition to a 13-month calendar. The WC was proposed as an alternative to the IFC on 21 October 1930 by the World Calendar Association, Inc. (WCA), which was organized in New York with Elisabeth Achelis as Founder and President. The World Calendar was proposed to head off a default IFC victory at the 1931 conference. The WC was a more conservative plan, based on a calendar originally proposed by the Italian astronomer Armellini in 1887, which retained a 12-month calendar but resembled the IFC in many other ways. After the introduction of the WC, it became apparent that a good deal of the support for the IFC was, in fact, support for the general idea of calendar reform, and support for the IFC began to erode. |
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The Journal of Calendar Reform was first published in March 1931 as an organ for the WCA message. The Journal was published quarterly for 25 years until the end of 1955, again under the direction of Achelis. The 1931 conference concluded without action on calendar reform, World War II ended, the League of Nations dissolved, and the United Nations concentrated on other business (again, see 9.12.2.1.2 for the details). |
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By the time the U.N. might have come back to the issue, computers had been introduced into use in large businesses, making the entire matter of calendar reform largely irrelevant. Once the support of large commercial interests for the idea of calendar reform was gone, the issue of calendar reform returned, by and large, once again to the hands of a few academics. |
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9.12.3.1.2.1
India Enters the Picture |
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One interesting exception in this post-War picture proves a rule. One of the consequences of World War II was the independence of India. India was composed of hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups, and the government was interested in any ideas that could be used to provide a measure of cohesion. |
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A Calendar Reform Committee was appointed in November 1952 for the purpose of proposing an accurate and uniform calendar for the whole of India. At the time, India used a large number of calendars. |
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Although the report of the commission in 1955 recommended the calendar described as the Indian civil calendar (detailed in section 9.6.2), the Indian government sponsored, in June 1954, a proposal to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations recommending international adoption of The World Calendar. |
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The government of India, in the 1950s, had little interest in computers or automation in general. To the contrary, a major concern was to provide jobs for millions of unskilled workers. As a historical rule, computers kill calendar reform. The corollary is also true where (and when) computers are absent, calendar reform can still survive as an issue. |
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